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The Green Bay Packers 2022 season started rough. The team lost 23-7 to the division rival Minnesota Vikings in Week 1, and Aaron Rodgers and the offense looked lost. However, over the next three weeks, the offense started turning it around, the defense played well, several key players came back healthy, and the Packers' 2022 winning streak is now at three in a row. Not everything is perfect in Cheese Land, though. There are still some things disappointing the team and its fans, and on the top of that list is the Packers’ 2022 second-round draft pick. The Christian Watson 2022 season is not going well so far, and that’s one of the organization’s biggest problems right now. Here is why rookie receiver Christian Watson is the Packers’ biggest disappointment through the first four weeks of 2022 NFL season.
Packers 2022 draft pick Christian Watson is the team’s biggest disappointment through Week 4
When 38-year-old, back-to-back NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers announced he was coming back this offseason, all seemed right in Wisconsin. However, the team lost Rodgers two top targets in short order after that.
The franchise traded All-Pro wideout Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders and let Marquez Valdes-Scantling go to the Kansas City Chiefs in free agency.
The team still has Allan Lazard, Randall Cobb, and Amari Rodgers. Then general manager Brian Gutekunst brought in Sammy Watkins. However, that wasn’t enough to create an elite pass-catching corps for Rodgers.
With the Adams trade, though, the Packers had four picks in the first two rounds of the 2022 NFL Draft. Surely, the team would use one or more of those on a promising young pass-catcher.
By the time the Packers were on the clock at No. 22, the top six WR prospects in the 2022 draft were off the board. So, Green Bay took two Georgia Bulldogs defenders (Quay Walker, Devonte Wyatt) at Nos. 22 and 28.
On Day 2 of the draft, the Packers packaged its two second-round picks to move up to No. 34. The team then drafted North Dakota State WR Christian Watson with the second pick of the second round.
Watson is a prospect who looks like a No. 1 NFL wideout. He is 6-foot-4, 208 pounds, ran a blazing 4.36 40-yard dash at the combine, and excelled at the FCS college football level.
There were some red flags surrounding Watson, however.
While he was good at North Dakota State, he was never dominant. His career highs were 43 catches and 802 yards in his senior season. He also has a 12.4% drop rate in college. Finally, his NFL.com scouting report noted that his catching skill improved over the years, but his “catch focus is below average.”
With the Packers, Christian Watson struggled to catch the ball off the bat. In OTAs, beat reporters noted he struggled with drops. However, the previous season, Cincinnati Bengals superstar (then) rookie Ja’Marr Chase faced the same issues and came through with a Pro Bowl first season.
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Watson then got hurt and missed time in training camp. He returned for the regular season, but disaster struck on his first-ever NFL play.
In Week 1 vs. the Vikings, Watson streaked down the field on the opening play, smoking veteran cornerback Patrick Paterson to get wide open. Aaron Rodgers launched a deep ball to the receiver, and he promptly dropped what would have been a walk-in touchdown.
YIKES pic.twitter.com/7y58rfgent
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) September 11, 2022
The rookie managed just five catches for 43 yards in his first two games before missing Week 3 with another injury. Watson returned in Week 4 but only caught one of three targets for eight yards.
To make matters worse for Christian Watson in 2022, fourth-round pick out of Nevada, Romeo Doubs, has looked more like a future star WR. Playing in all four Packers 2022 games, Doubs has 19 catches on 24 targets for 184 yards and two touchdowns.
While Christian Watson has already become the Packers’ biggest disappointment through the first four weeks of the season, that isn’t a death knell yet.
Of the current top 10 NFL WRs in 2022, several became stars right out of the gate in their rookie campaigns. This includes A.J. Brown, Justin Jefferson, Jaylen Waddle, Amon Ra-St. Brown, and Chris Olave (who is currently a rookie).
That said, the rest of the top 10 — Tyreek Hill, Stefon Diggs, Cooper Kupp, Courtland Sutton, and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown — all became stars later in their careers. None of these players had 1,000 yards in their first NFL season, and Diggs (61.9% catch rate), Brown (64.8), and Sutton (50%) all struggled at times securing catches.
The Packers’ Christian Watson is the biggest disappointment right now. But there is time for the Packers' 2022 second-rounder to turn it around. For Packers fans, let’s hope it starts in Week 5 in London vs. the New York Giants.
